What is neuromarketing?
Neuroscience research for marketing questions, especially advertising appraisal - measuring physiological responses to marketing stimuli directly, rather than relying on self-reports.
Using the results of neuroscience research to design marketing actions.
Methods of neuro-marketing
Directly measuring brain activity:- fMRI: functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging,
- PET: Positron Emission Tomography,
- EEG: ElectroEncephaloGraphy,
- Other stuff related to brain activity - eye tracking, face muscle tracking, general biometrics,
- Directly measuring brain activity is slow, complex and expensive; other methods less so.
Eye tracking
- Cheap and easy, can even be done over the internet
- Where people look most often, and for the longest time, must be the most interesting
- Gaze studies always (AFAIK) accompanied by debrief, or real-time narrative, because results are often ambiguous.
Measures:
- Location of gaze, including sequence and dwell time
- Pupil dilation
Facial muscle tracking
- Claims of fairly accurate detection of emotions
- Based on Ekman's basic emotions: Anger, sadness, disgust, fear, surprise, happiness.
- Can use electrodes on face, or cameras.
- May not be so useful for low arousal
General biometrics
Most biometrics are measures of general metabolic arousal.
- Perspiration
- Heart rate
- Pupil dilation
- Signals can be highly ambiguous
- Measurements and "results" can very dramatically between tools and vendors
EEG
- Non-invasive, electrodes detects the electrical signals near the surface of the skull.
- Most commonly used neuroscience technique for marketing.
- Measurements at different frequencies correspond to general states of consciousness e.g. wakefulness (15-30Hz), relaxation (8-12Hz), calmness *4-7Hz), light and deep sleep (<4Hz).
fMRI
- fMRI can sense neural activity, and localise it, through the entire brain, not just near the surface.
- Measures changes in local magnetic field due to electrical activity.
- Images are not photos: computer-generated from statistical analysis that is prone to error.
- Participants must keep head still, and be exposed to same stimulus many times to average out noise.
Brain structures and functions
Pre-frontal cortex (PFC): associated with consciousness and planning.
- dorso-lateral "executive" function, processing contextual information.
- Ventro-medial: desirability
- Amugdala: arousal (physiological, not necessarily sexual), affective intensity
- Hippocampus: memory
- Ventral striatum: response to (anticipation of) reward
Advantages of Neuormarketing?
- Can potentially reveal affective reactions to marketing stimuli that consumers are unwilling or unable to reveal.
- Can potentially bypass the problems with self-reports.
- Even very recent articles seem to focus on potential for the future rather than results achieved so far.
Weaknesses of neuromarketing?
- Limited theory of how the brain works (at the brand or ad level) - most importantly, a one-to-one mapping of areas in the brain to mental states (e.g. love, anxiety, confusion) is not currently possible, and probably never will be.
- Bypasses measurement problems with surveys etc., but measurement issues of each method (especially fMRI and EEG) are still a problem.
- Evidence that arguments featuring brain scans are rated more favourably, even if the image has nothing to do with the argument
Is neuromarketing better?
- Most neuromarketing studies are done in conjunction with traditional methods
- Many studies show that traditional methods are valid and reliable
- Nueromarketing is still quite expensive, and benefits may not offset this for most companies
- Some methods, notably fMRI, still suffer from the same external validity issues as traditional methods
- For every neuromarketing success, where is the evidence that traditional methods couldn't have done at least as well, or nearly as well, but for a fraction of the cost, and far more quickly?
Ethics of neuromarketing
1. The marketer-research vendor relationship
- Vendor truthfulness (of claims)
- Vendor transparency (of methods)
- Client truthfulness
2. The researcher-subject relationship
- Informed consent regarding procedures
- Informed consent regarding uses of analysis and goals of the research
3. The marketer-consumer relationship
- Disclosure of ability of marketer to influence consumer outside of their conscious awareness
Stealth neuromarketing?
- Current and recent reaction to the potential of neuroscience to be used for business purposes is not new
- So far, and as far as we know, abuses due to results of neuroscience being used to inform marketing have not occured
Neuromarketing for consumers:
In general, it is useful for consumers to be aware of marketing techniques directly aimed at persuasion, even more so for techniques aimed to bypass cognitive evaluation.
Even if you don't plan to be a brand manager, learning about neuromarketing is (a) inherently interesting and (b) helpful to become a smarter consumer.
Learn More :
Neuromarketing